Tag Archive: gotland bamboo superwash silk cocoons dungeon bulky

That’s where I’ve been, and I’ve come back with this yarn. You saw where I’d got up to last time, right? Well, here we are with the finished product.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the nature of the yarn got into my head and bred and multiplied and grew, and before I knew it I’d started spinning these amazingly shiny grey Gotland locks into a thick, ugly, barely-holding-together single to ply with the batts I started with.

Grey Gotland locks

The thing with the creatures of the Dungeon Dimensions is that they only have the shape that magic can afford them. Perhaps, then, we could see my focus and attention and intent as being the equivalent, because the more I focused on this yarn the bigger and more out of control it grew. I had to consciously stop it from growing any bigger (and I’m only half done, might I add). I spun about fifty grams each of the batts and black alpaca into a blobby, uneven single and wound a giant plying ball from it; then turned around and did the same with the locks. I carded the locks very roughly, just enough that I could get purchase on the slippery fibre, as the locks wouldn’t spin as they were.

Plying balls

The plying, done on the same Navajo spindle as the singles, was interesting. To get that feeling of the Dungeon Dimensions’ inhabitants’ tenuous grip on physical existence, I spun both singles quite loosely, trying to get *just* enough twist in for the plying phase and have the yarn be soft, soft, soft. I ended up having to tie a few knots in the yarn as I was plying, because the slippery Gotland just wouldn’t play the game. But as I was skeining it, I realised that the knots really did add to the feel of the yarn.

Plied yarn on the Navajo spindle

I washed the skein in very hot water and agitated it viciously – the fibres include almost nothing that will felt readily so I wanted to get as much felting action out of it as possible to help it hang together. It’s come out surprisingly nice. I sewed the “eyes” – the silk cocoons – on when it was dry. Here it is, all 212g and not quite 30m of it!! Sorry for the photo spam, but I really am so in love with this one.

Tentacular!!!!!!!!

How's those locks???

My absolute favourite shot of this yarn

I’m so pleased with this yarn. I think, as an “art yarn” – i.e. a long piece of spun fibre that illustrates an artistic concept – it is my most successful to date. It’s hideously ugly, barely structurally sound, uneven and quite possibly unusable. But it captures my vision perfectly. I think it would weave really well, given a lot of patience and a gentle hand at the loom. But for now, it is an art piece, and one of which I’m immensely proud.